Gas turbine engines with heat exchanging recuperators are well known in the prior art. A recuperator is a heat exchanger which utilizes hot exhaust gases from the turbine to heat the compressed air input from the compressor, prior to injection of the compressed air into the combustion chamber. Preheating the compressed air improves fuel efficiency of the engine in a number of ways. Recuperators may be conventionally made from stacked plates by joining press-formed plates to form air cells through which the compressed air is channeled. In conventional manufacturing procedures, two formed plates are usually brazed or welded or otherwise mechanically joined together to form one air cell. It is desirable to keep the thickness of the plates as small as possible to minimize engine weight, but it is very challenging to build an air cell using foils having a thickness of less than 0.127 mm (0.005 inches). The difficulties associated with this conventional method include achieving a structurally sound brazed joint without air leakages. Therefore, efforts have been made to seek new methods for manufacturing recuperator air cells in order to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional recuperator air cell manufacturing procedures.